Thursday, May 5, 2011

A Mother's Job is Never Done

This is what I have on my kitchen counter right now. A medicine for all 3 of my children (I'm counting Howie in that total)...

At around 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday night, Addie started calling for me from her bedroom. This was already the 4th time that night. I threw my covers off, stomped down to her room and whispered in an angry voice, "Addison Lynn...GO TO BED!". She claimed she didn't feel good, to which I responded, "STOP being a drama queen. You are fine. Please go back to sleep".

I was just about the leave her room when she sat straight up, looked at me, and then threw up all over her bed. The poor thing had the flu and I was calling her names!! Mommy guilt set in big time so after I changed her sheets, cleaned her up and got her back to sleep, I vowed to sleep in bed with her until morning, just to make sure she didn't get sick again. But just as my eyes were getting heavy, another child needed me.

Howie was barking at the back door to go outside. Ever since he had his bladder surgery last Thursday, he has had to pee every hour or so. I was hoping Eric would hear him and get up but he didn't. So I snuck out of Addie's room, let him out, waited 25 minutes while he found the PERFECT spot to pee, and then let him in. He waited just until I was all the way down the hallway to bark again because he needed water. Son of a...

Back in Addie's room, I was just getting comfortable again when I heard Eric getting up for work. I needed to tell him about Addie and remind him of a few things before he left. So I tip-toed to our bedroom, had our morning meeting, and climbed into MY bed for just a few precious minutes of sleep. But Blakey boy had other ideas.

Keeping Blake quiet while Addie sleeps is impossible. He is so loud and active in the morning, you can't keep the kid still. He just wants to run and play. This would be fine if it was 7:00...but it was 5:30. And I hadn't slept AT ALL that night. I waited just a few minutes to see if he would go back down but no such luck. He was up. And so was Addie, and she was feeling sick again. Lord help me...

Surprisingly, we survived the morning. Addie stayed on her "sick bed" (also known as the couch with a big blanket on it) and I gave her a few coloring books and turned on her favorite show...

A little Advil and Special Agent Oso and she was already on the mend. Plus, she perked up almost immediately when I told her that Papa was coming over to watch her while I took Blake to the doctor.

And speaking of Blake, I am still praying today that this flu bug doesn't catch him because he has his own issues to deal with. Blake has literally had a runny nose for a month. Well actually, he has had a runny nose since October (off and on of course). It's only been in the last month or so that I am convinced he has allergies. So I decided to take him in to see if there was anything they could do to alleviate his symptoms.

Blake and the doctor usually don't mix, but luckily he was in good spirits yesterday...

The doctor said that he could have a sinus infection right now but because his drainage is normally clear, she wanted to try some Claritin first. I am really hoping this is the solution for my little man because I am sick of snot all over my clothes every day. Haha! If it does happen to be another infection, he will have to be on an antibiotic to clear it up and we will have to watch and make sure they aren't reoccurring. I am tempted to get an opinion from an ENT too, but I will see if the Claritin helps this week first.

Back at home, my Dad got Addie and Howie to take a snooze which was great, but then the two of them were WIRED when Blake and I got home. I spent the better part of the afternoon chasing them around, filling sippy cups, taking meds, checking temps, disinfecting my house, etc. On any other day, I would at least have peace and quiet to look forward to after bedtime. But it was Wednesday which means I TEACH! So with snot on my shirt and the smell of puke lingering in my hair...I headed off to campus. When I got out at almost 9:30, I remembered that we were out of bread and milk. Mother fu....

By 10:15, I was in bed and finally ready for sleep. But it didn't come right away. I just kept waiting for a child to cry or a dog to bark. I knew it was coming and I didn't want to fall asleep until I took care of everything. But somewhere in the middle of checking Facebook on my phone and playing Words with Friends...I passed out. And I slept for five FABULOUS hours. Yeah I know...5 hours isn't really anything, but when you haven't slept for almost 36 hours...those 5 were pure bliss.

So now I know what I want for Mother's Day. I don't want a new dress, or gift card, or even a pedicure (okay....maybe a pedicure). I just want a little extra sleep, followed by a relaxing shower (without 3 sets of eyes watching me). Oh, and I would like to drink my entire cup of morning coffee without having to reheat it in the microwave 3 times. Ah...the simple things :-)